Despite losing their starting quarterback, tailback and an offensive tackle, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons have yet to lose a game on the football field nearly a month into the 2006 season.

Picked to finish last in the six-team Atlantic Division, Wake Forest (4-0, 1-0) is one of the Atlantic Coast Conference's two remaining unbeaten teams and will be favored to reach 5-0 when it hosts Division I-AA Liberty (3-1) Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

"It is fun watching our kids play right now and it is fun being 4-0," Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe said.

The Demon Deacons, who hadn't opened the season with four consecutive victories since 1987, are the only team in the nation to have defeated four BCS-conference opponents. They followed home wins over Syracuse and Duke by going on the road and beating Connecticut and Mississippi, a 27-3 verdict that opened a few eyes around the nation.

They've done it without quarterback Benjamin Mauk, who suffered a broken right arm and dislocated right shoulder during the Syracuse game. They've done it without tailback Micah Andrews and offensive tackle Arby Jones, who both sustained knee injuries in the fourth quarter against U.Conn.

And at times, they've done it in truly improbable fashion--they blocked a 27-yard field goal on the final play to preserve a 14-13 victory over Duke.

"It's been a great feeling. It's something we're not used to," senior defensive tackle Jamil Smith said. "We've been used to struggling at the start of the season, but now, we're playing as a team and everything is clicking for us."

At this point, Wake Forest's biggest challenge might be focusing on its next opponent. But despite a home game against Clemson looming on Oct. 7, the Demon Deacons insist they won't look past a Liberty team that leads Division I-AA in scoring defense under first-year head coach Danny Rocco.

"I don't see Liberty as a letdown. We see them as any other game. We go into practice like it's a normal game. Regardless of if they're ACC or SEC, we treat every team the same. It doesn't matter," Smith said.

Down year for ACC?

Bobby Bowden remembers the days long before Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College turned the ACC into a 12-team mega-conference, back when the league was basically Florida State and everyone else.